Three Ways to Stop Overdose Deaths Now

Glee star Cory Monteith died tragically after overdosing on a combination of alcohol and heroin. He had a history of substance use problems and fought to get help at two different points in his life. In the end, he lost his battle with addiction.

Not all addictions are rooted in abuse or trauma, but I do believe they can all be traced to painful experience. A hurt is at the center of all addictive behaviors. It is present in the gambler, the Internet addict, the compulsive shopper and the workaholic. The wound may not be as deep and the ache not as excruciating, and it may even be entirely hidden—but it’s there.... [T]he effects of early stress or adverse experiences directly shape both the psychology and the neurobiology of addiction in the brain.

Naloxone and Preventing Overdose Death

Naloxone is an antidote to opioid overdose, administered as a nasal spray or as an injection. As with EpiPens in the treatment of allergic reactions, anyone can learn to administer naloxone. One might argue that the ideal scenario would be to avoid overdose altogether, but that is little comfort to the parents and children who have lost their loved ones to overdose. What naloxone provides, when used correctly, is another chance for the person suffering from addiction to survive and seek help.

Earlier this year, Time magazine reported that broader use of naloxone could reduce overdose deaths by 50 percent. Any place frequented by people who use opioids, like needle exchange programs, hotels, and college dorms, should have naloxone available.

Good Samaritan Laws

No one should be punished for making a 911 call on behalf of someone who is overdosing. 911 Good Samaritan laws grant limited immunity from some drug charges to people experiencing an overdose and to witnesses who seek help.

A piece in the Huffington Post describes how the death of 24-year-old Greg Humes could have been avoided if his friends had called for help instead of abandoning him in a hospital parking lot. In life or death situations, the risk of punishment should never stop us from calling for help.

When asked what he would do after Glee ended, Monteith said he would try to “shed light on the way out of a difficult situation that I know many kids are experiencing, just like I did when I was a teenager.” A tribute to Monteith’s spirit would be to increase awareness about the root causes of addiction, develop a broader set of tools to respond to addiction and overdose, expand access to naloxone, and in doing so, prevent other tragic deaths.

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Patrick Gallahue

posted on Jul 18, 2013

Great piece. The overdose epidemic must inspire some proactive thinking. Services have not been foremost on people's minds. One I'd add is safe consumption facilities. Between 2003 and 2011, North America's only safe consumption facility, Insite, saved 1778 lives through overdose intervention.

When my boyfriend overdosed a few weeks back really shook me up and made me realize that we both needed to change the way we were living our lives. There are too many programs out there that underliningly say to get help and gain support of love ones but if you have a using partner to get out of that situation. I began my drug journey with my boyfriend, a man I plan in spending the rest of my life with, and I would like to end my journey with him by my side. Most addicts have using partners and it would make sense to have programs to teach couples how to overcome addiction as a team. I believe the success rate of those who get clean together and stay clean together would be higher than those who are forced to get clean solo yet stay in the same relationship. They need to learn how to be successful together because who you have fallen in love with doesn't change and feelings don't go away.

Thank you so much for your honest and heartfelt note. Different addiction support groups will have different approaches. It’s true that a lot of programs have a zero tolerance policy on maintaining contact with other drug users. It works for some people, but it doesn’t work for everyone. I would check out the Harm Reduction Coalition’s website (www.harmreduction.org) and see if you might find a program that suits you and your boyfriend. They may even be able to direct you to a service provider within proximity to you, depending on where you are in the country.

Thank you for writing this. The war on drugs is a failure and this practical approach to saving lives vs shunning or ignoring the fact that people (some of whom are our friends and family) with addictions exist. The criminalization of addiction is the reason our jails are overcrowded and billions if taxpayer money goes to waste. Addiction is an illness and not a crime. The focus needs to be on treatment and recovery. Alcoholics and prescription pill addicts would never be ostracized like this. Sad that a young, squeaky-clean celebrity had to die for this article to be written, but thank you for writing it. If one life is saved by reading this article, then in a way Corey won't have died completely in vain.